Leaderboard

SDG will get it done professionally, while you wait, in less than 2 hrs at their facility in Elkhart, IN. I think it is about $300. Well worth it. My Dad lives about 45 min from them, so it was an easy decision to do on our last visit.

Hello All, My wife and I purchased Hull #1553 at the end of February. The trailer is a 2024, Legacy Elite II. We have already been on one trip with it. Love this trailer! Cant wait for the next trip. I have been browsing all the forums and am excited to be part of this community.

To address weBoost comments by you, @Galileoand @Mike and Carol: I’ve been practicing this procedure a few years and find it to be very useful information. I’ve even been able to get service in a park known to have very limited to ‘No Cell Service’! Having my weBoost antenna mounted atop a 16’ fiberglass flagpole helps, as well! Davis Mountains State Park, West Texas.

Colorado National Monument

@Tideline77: We installed the AirLift system on our Tundra a couple years ago and it's been operating as designed ever since. No squat, good ride either towing, hauling, or normal daily driving. Looking into the onboard inflation upgrade -- we're just carrying a bicycle pump for now.... No biggie. The AirLift price point was about the same at the advertised RAS cost, FYI.

The installation price sounds great! From my 5 whole minutes of research, it looks like the 15k btu Dreiha sells for about the same amount as the 13.5 k btu Houghton… Sounds a little better than $4,000 to have Oliver install the Truma….

Welcome to the group! Carol’s sister and family live in Frisco, not too far from Royce City. We’ll see you out on the road…. MIke

Great for the upper reaches and roof areas/components; whether washing, waxing, maintenance or repairs. I custom made the black guardrail with swing/locking end rails for access/fall protection. Shown here when staging for an a/c swap. And here when waxing in summer heat.

Any system is only as good as the replacement filters that you buy

I was questioning the idea of a RO system in the Oliver, but Given @Galileo now lives fulltime in an Oliver, I certainly now understand the need. The obvious space is the back basement area. The water lines are there where you could add a 'T' to the RO system and then plumb a line to a countertop spigot. You'd want it far back so the remaining area is still usable for storage. The issue is getting back there to install and later to change filters. You either must have real narrow shoulders to fit in or perhaps the furnace could be removed for the installation. I was thinking of building in water filtration there but after advice from @SeaDawg I went with a portable unit that I use when filling our tanks. First pic shows the idea and the second pic shows what I ended up with. I used Clear Source filters and housings. Their parts are cheaper compared to their $400+ RV filter systems. This was intended for better bath and kitchen water on the road. We do not drink the stored water.

I have Firestone airbags installed on my Tundra and have liked the way they perform (25,000 miles towing to date). Adjustability is key for my uses. 25 psi when towing eliminates jouncing in rear of truck. Happy Camper. Adjustability, price point (approx $400 at time of install) and ease of install were selling points for me. Very little leakage over 3 yrs.

Val, if I was you and wanted this upgrade… Given you’re a full timer and travel frequently to Chicago, why not go to the supplier SDG in Elkhart and have them install it? I’m too far away and with rising costs, have to save the money by installing it myself. Also like Ron, I have all the time needed to do the install, leave things half done for a week or two and we have full workshops and tools. SDG would install in one day! Mike @rideadeuce went to SDG as I’m suggesting. Search for ‘Atmos’ to find his post. Best wishes, JD

We would highly recommend Colorado National Monument (beautiful) as @Mike and Carol mentioned and we drove through Grand Mesa National Forest. We enjoyed Powder Horn and took the ski lift to the top of the mountain and had lunch there. Ski lifts are fun! We also drove out to the (4) corners…meh…it was ok. The KOA in GJ was close and convenient to Alcan so we opted to camp there. You certainly could stay at James M Robb, but you will need to do some research and see if they have availability. They did not have openings when we scheduled with Alcan.

After a thorough review of your qualifying posts, the Rabbit Hole Society hereby bequiths to you a full lifetime membership.

I went with the air bag / Bilstein 5100 combo and have been very happy with the outcome. The Air Lift bags I had installed can be pumped up to 100 PSI but I have found that 30# does the job real well without excessive rear end lift. I did use the Bilstein 5100 ride adjustable front shocks set at 1.75" in order to counteract the nose-down effect you get when pumping up the rear air bags. This combo gives a smooth, level ride and virtually eliminates the hobby horsing you get on uneven road surfaces such as northern frost heaves or slumping road surfaces. Far superior to the factory F150 shocks that came on my '21 crew cab.

Ralph, When we had our 5 leaf pack installed by Lew and his team at Alcan it took them approx 2.5 hrs and the team did a great job. We got there first thing in morning and all of my expectations were ✅ off. It was worth every cent to have it done professionally and done right. We dropped off our Oliver and went and had an excellent breakfast in Grand Junction at Cafe Sol, gotta go hungry! 😋 We actually camped here the night before- https://koa.com/campgrounds/grand-junction/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gbp maybe 15-20 min from Alcan with traffic. Cafe Sol…we ate here during our 2023 trip and again as noted in 24 while having the 5 leaf pack installed. Great coffee and we let the forks fly!! 😄 Patriot🇺🇸

Worked this step yesterday. The new cable pulled into place as written above. See picture, taken under the streetside bed. On the left is the new cable. On the right is the cut-off sheath of the old cable. Then I pushed these two sides together, taped them together with electrical tape, and it pulled through nicely. Don't forget to put the nut on the new cable before pulling this! Now the entire waste valve system is restored. The rebuilt gray is a feather-lite pull and push. The black still takes a little tug, due to the 144" cable and the 180 degree turn at the end, but it is much better than before. We should be good for many more years to come.

I love Lake Bob Sandlin. We have been there in our previous trailer. Intech Luna Rover - Tear Drop.

Cool! We’re in Winnsboro right now - just down the road from you. You may wanna check out Lake Bob Sandlin. A pretty nice place to camp!

My year model Oliver had a fiberglass landing that supported the aft of the former Dometic Penguin ll (11K), whereas in @rideadeuce’s instance (DP ll 13.5K) there was no such support in his year model. In his install the “supplied foam” you reference was installed in accordance with the installation instructions provided. Said foam installed in like manner in my instance would not make contact with the roof and offer support due to relief of the landing and thus, it was halved and positioned on each side as added support. Regarding OTT’s retrofit of the Truma Aventa on earlier models to replace a Dometic and new models ordered with the Aventa upgrade option, a fiberglass landing was specifically designed for that unit.

Exactly. We’ve been using this technique for the last 8 or 9 years. BTW, Davis Mountains State Park is one of our favorites. Mike

I’m certainly not suggesting that the Berkey does what an RO system does. We have had an RO system for 20 years that supplies drinking water and water for both of our fridges with ice makers (we’re actually on the second system, we wore the first one out). The RO removes everything, which is why we add back electrolytes to our glasses of water during the day. For camping, the Berkey has been effective. It gets top ratings by the EWG. I asked them about microplastic removal and they said their carbon filters remove some but that their new ceramic filters remove most/all micro and nanoplastics. Plastics is becoming a major health issue, they’re finding them in our arteries, artery blockages, brains, organs, etc. I applaud anyone who engineers a good RO install in their Oliver. I’m not that smart or talented so we’ll just roll with our Berkey. Mike

What was Groucho Marx’s famous line? Something about not wanting to belong to any organization that would have him as a member? 😋

JD - we’re homeless these days. Sold our 1/2 acre “city” property in Chicago northern suburbs (“Goodbye $13,000 annual property taxes” - and climbing EVERY year or so.) and also our “country” property in Rural NE Texas. $400/year property taxes on 40 acres - go figure. (Ag exemption mainly) That said, we crash in the same part of Texas (Winnsboro) a couple of weeks a year. And likewise in Joliet area south of Chicago. Our camping trips are typically pretty long by comparison. (“I got nowhere else to go!”) At about 2-3 months at a time. We left Chicago just after Christmas, and only stashed the trailer in storage on March 8th. It will only be there until the end of the month, then camping again in Mandeville (NOLA) area for all of April. June starts the long trip cycle again, and will be in the trailer ‘til end of August. Though we’ll be staying near NOLA between two state parks for a month, and campground hosts for 5 weeks in Minnesota later this summer, we generally cover a fair amount of ground, aiming to stay in each place 3-4 days, and driving 100-200 miles between stops. “Home Base” for the Oliver (AKA “Indoor Storage”) is Hammond, LA (again, essentially New Orleans) and we’ve covered from there to the Florida Keys & back, Grand Canyon & back, PEI & back, and Yellowstone & back. Put 78,000 miles on previous tow vehicle in three years. (Whew!) My wife could easily hold down the role of a professional travel agent, as she researches and makes all of the reservations - as well as all of the travel arrangements for our annual fall Europe trips. (Me? I just drive the truck…) We’re trying to get smarter as far as spending the “cold” months in the South, and the hot months North. (No more Winslow in August please!) But with family in Chicago and Northern Indiana, we usually have to suck it up around Christmas. Biggest concern there is diesel trucks don’t like Chicago winters…

Same here, Ron - added the 30A outlet to the west side of the "man-cave" for visitors to use when here. Our cave is energized with a 75A sub-panel that powers up the shop equipment as @jd1923 mentioned above. The main panel is configured with 200A service, which is more than ample to meet our needs. The 12.5kW whole house standby GENSET gets us by famously during power outages. So far, so good - no popping breakers.

We've planned most of our trips while we like more open land and less staying at campsites, NO RV Parks unless we need to be in the city. Longest trip to date is 3 1/2 weeks and from late May to early July we're leaving for 5-6 weeks and I'm not even sure of our route yet, let alone reservations. Like Bill suggested, we prefer the 2-legged carbon forms to be over 500 ft away. Out here 500 ft away from the road, water source and neighbors, and you can shoot guns, drop gray water and take an outdoor shower without looking over your shoulder! 🤣 Purchased our older hull which came with 320W rooftop Solar, a 2KW Xantrex inverter and 450AH of relatively new LA batteries. We ran coffee machines, microwave, streaming TV many hours day and night, NP. But that wasn't good enough. Goal now is to have a high efficiency A/C that can run 3-4 hours on inverted power, no generator. So I upgraded our entire electrical system with a 3KVA Victron Multiplus II Inverter/Charger on 600AH Epoch LiFePO4 batteries, added a Victron MPPT 30A solar charger for a 400W Renogy suitcase in addition to the OEM Blue Sky charger for the rooftop panels. I've purchased a Victron Orion XS 50 DC-D charger and as soon as I can get over my latest pickleball injury, I will run the cable and get this system installed. With addition of the Atmos A/C this April, I will be able to run air using under 10A 120VAC. Although admittedly I overdid it! I'd rather make these long-term investments than spend money on a generator or full hookup campsites. I wish there were more campgrounds that have room for 23 ft trailers without hookups. Half the time we have hookups, I don't bother connecting. We just don't need to most of the time. I just added up everything we spent for solar tax credit purposes. Yay, got my taxes done yesterday! For the inverter, LiFePO4, Solar suitcase and charger, DC-DC charger, high-output truck alternator and every switch, length of wire, wrap, lugs, terminals, buses, fuses, beakers etc. it came to $5,379. Given I sold the used batteries and inverter, net cost is $4,800. What does OTT charge for their Platinum package? (which does not include near half of these components and capability.) Don't forget 100 hours free labor from this tech! 🤣 @Galileo Val, where do you live and travel mainly? Those of you who live east certainly cannot boondock readily as we do out west.

I've had the RAS installed on two tow vehicles that have pulled my Elite tens of thousands of miles. First, on a Toyota Tacoma, and now on my F150. They have worked very well, indeed. The ride is much better with, or without the trailer attached.

Another good option in the Grand Junction area is James M Robb State Park in Fruita, just outside (west) of Grand Junction. It’s also just a couple of miles outside of Colorado Monument, a must see if you are in the area. Mike

Perfect, thanks guys. Identifying good food is always priority one.

Different stokes for different folks.... Some of us like being very close to our camping neighbors and all of the noise, crowd, congestion, only add to the enjoyment and the amenities (i.e. pool, snack bar, miniature golf, etc. are wonderful. While others prefer not being able to see another carbon based life form and believe that nature provides more than any human could ever imagine. Of course, there are also those that are between these two extremes. Our Olivers give us choices and I believe that this is one of the best features of these great campers. Bill

Scott, happy to chip in for the hall. How is the best way to do that? Gary, Anita, and Ranger in the Range Rover, Hull 292

That’s what I did, self installed a 30A for the Oliver and 50A for my Son’s RV when he visited.

Hey, Ralph; This is, at most, a 3-4 hr job at a service shop like Alcan, IMO. I changed my springs "solo" - it took a full day. However, when I changed my axles out at Hohenwald last year, "DeeBo" and I started around 8:30am and we were at lunch by noon that day. I'm sure Lew and his team at Alcan would have the springs done in less time. Plan on getting there the day prior to your appointment and you'll be on the road by early afternoon. Good luck!

I use Adams Mega Foam with an MTM Hydro foam cannon and a CarCarez Long Handle Feathered Bristle Angled Scrub Brush for a quick and easy clean!

Schools are starting to change when they open again for the Fall semester in Alaska. Idea is to give the kiddo's more summer time for play and jobs. Suggest you check that out. Seems like they were trending to start up the first Tuesday of September. September is the shoulder season. Almost no bugs, discounts and lots of camping parks only part full. Some years you could get all of September before it gets really cold. Other seasons early Sept the snows are starting. We were there in 2022 for August and half of September. Loved it. Some say that going in the late spring when kids are in school is wonderful for retired travelers. Too cold for our thing skins. Just know that the cost of Fuel is off the charts. So take what you need and be mindful that due to fuel costs and many road conditions you will be traveling many less miles than you do on our Interstates. GJ

Seven years ago I added a master switch for the leveling jacks. I disconnect the power to the jacks whenever the camper is parked. My hope is that with three jacks firmly down it will be much more difficult to steal. Thankfully, as far as I know no one has ever tried my theory.

Hey Felix, congrats on the new Oliver and welcome to the group. Any good product should be fine to use to clean. Chemical Guys sells good stuff. I’ve used Griots and Meguiars with good results. Lately I’ve been using the stuff from the CGI team that did our ceramic coating a couple of years ago. Mike

Steve: I was good all the way to the words "is actually a good idea as it protects the circuit from both ends". That logic applies to circuits that have the ability to power up the home-run from both ends. Like the DC to DC charging system. However I do agree that having a fuse at the front jack, although somewhat redundant, does serve a great purpose. When I leave my trailer unintended in a boondock location for which there may be a theft concern, I lower the tongue and remove the fuse. Certainly makes a quick scope, connect and getaway much more effort for the thief. GJ

I use the Timbren suspension systems on my 2024 Ram 1500 Larame as it was a lot less expensive than the air bags. Additionally, you need to check the air bag pressure often as they will loose pessure over time.

More that a few of our owners with F-150's use the Firestone Air Bags and Bilstein 5100's on the rear shocks. I have 18,000 miles on mine and wish I had upgraded earlier. GJ

I installed the Airlift Loadlifter 5000 system on our 2019 Tundra two years ago. It effectively reduced both squat and "jounce" when towing our Elite II, and added cornering stability. Our air bags rely on a manual air pump, which I prefer. It only takes me a couple of pumps with a bicycle pump to raise each spring to the 25 PSI level we prefer when towing. I was already carrying a bicycle pump for my mountain bike. I always carry a tire pressure gauge, so measuring the PSI of the airbags is easy. I cannot compare to the Firestone or RAS Roadactive systems, as I have no experience with either. But it appears to me that the RAS Roadactive system is not adjustable. We like being able to reduce pressure with our Air Lift system when not towing, then raise it again when towing. For what it's worth, the RAS Roadactive system presently costs $589 for our Tundra vs. $379 (with rebate) for the Airlift Loadlifter 5000. Given our positive experience so far, I would again choose the Airlift Loadlifter 5000 because it works well, for a significantly lower price.

First of all, the suggested OTT service demonstrated in the Oliver University video is a joke. Oliver owners that do not generally do their own service should not bother. Your hull is only 3 years old, so unless it is noisy when cranking up or down, I would leave it alone for now. The only way to damage these mechanisms is when the lift get over-extended in either direction causing the worm gear to slip scraping both gears. However these jacks are FULLY serviceable! Though likely I am the only Oliver Owner to ever work the full procedure. Read page 2 of this thread were I demonstrated the full service procedure in detail with pictures,

10,000 mile update on Alcan springs: A year had passed since my dreaded roadside leaf spring break and 10,000 miles are on the Ollie with Alcan springs underneath so I thought I would provide my update. Ride height - rear bumper rides approx 1/2” higher than stock Ride performance - first 500 miles seemed a bit stiffer than stock with a few more items from counter and beds on the floor but the springs settled-in after that and there is no observed difference inside the trailer now (no additional stuff found fallen to the floor). Trailer tracks the same as stock, however visible jouncing (up and down) and side to side (roll) are observed to be less pronounced than stock. I also noticed when doing annual bearing maintenance that the spring shackles no longer invert when both wheels on the same side are jacked off the ground. Overall impression - had I known that a heavier capacity, 5-leaf spring, made in the US with US steel and featuring a design with the second leaf which extended all the way under each spring eye was available sooner I would have swapped sooner, just as I had previously done with solid stainless lug nuts and US made Timken bearings. No regrets on the upgrade from stock springs.

I don't have a generator box, just a rubber maid container to put my chocks and stuff in that goes into the front tray/box Oliver provided. I was just putting an option out for others who visit this thread as I mentioned I know several who have the products from Sea Biscuit. Everyone's needs and budgets are different.

I don’t mind knowing there are other beings on the planet when I camp. I just don’t want to sneeze in my trailer and hear one of them say “Bless you!”. I don’t concern myself with snack bars and pools. Hot showers and the occasional washing machine are nice though. We’ve “camped” at everything from urban campgrounds - basically parking lots with hookups - to the aforementioned Harvest host - with zero hookups. (But a cool impromptu youth rodeo!) I prefer something comfortably in the middle. I admire the dedication of the tent campers. (BTDT, enjoyed waking up in 2” of water in my sleeping bag.) I scoff at the guys in the half-million dollar coaches. (I like getting more than 4MpG, thank you very much.) Friends often call what we do in our Oliver “Glamping”. That’s ok, I need some glamour in my life.

I believe the mod you suggested, a switch has been added by a few owners with mentions in these pages. I tend to believe the more you make it difficult for a thief, the more damage you will have when he’s done doing his mischief! Jack up or down doesn’t matter, or the fancy hitch locks, when all they have to do is wrap a chain around it to drag it away. Not a big market for hot Oliver parts! Maybe with a Winnebago or Airstream we would have more worries.

I haven’t needed - or wanted - to remove the jack motor yet. That said, I did have to tighten up those Allen screws on the front jack when they weren’t tight enough and the whole top end of the jack spun around when I tried to level the trailer about 6 months ago. Luckily, it isn’t smash my hand against the propane five -too- bad… I did go through the whole video that illustrates servicing the Jack. Unfortunately, I find that the most important parts of the Jack - the parts that do the actual lifting - don’t appear to be serviceable. Only the gear reduction that turns the main screw inside the Jack body. Seems silly to me. Looks like the real “Jack” just goes without TLC - or lubrication.